Senior Scientist, Analytical Chemistry

Who we are at Osmo:

Osmo is a digital olfaction company, on a mission to give computers a sense of smell to improve the health and wellbeing of human life. Why? Our sense of smell both enriches and saves lives, and has a deep and direct connection to our emotions and memory.

Olfactory Intelligence has applications across industries including fragrance, manufacturing, security, medicine, and more. We believe in the power of automation and thoughtfully applied AI/ML to solve problems beyond the reach of human intuition alone. Osmo is headquartered in Elizabeth, NJ, with an additional office in Somerville, MA.

Osmo is seeking a Senior Scientist to drive the strategy and execution of GC/MS-based characterization programs that power our fragrance discovery engine and machine learning infrastructure. This is a high-autonomy role for an experienced analytical chemist who thrives at the intersection of rigorous small‑molecule analytical chemistry and machine learning.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end‑to‑end analytical strategy for specific GC‑MS‑based programs, including method design, validation frameworks, and data quality standards for both targeted and untargeted analyses

• Define and evolve sample preparation methodologies for headspace, liquid‑phase, and solid‑phase extraction of fragrance compounds from complex matrices and consumer products

• Maintain and improve Osmo’s high‑throughput analytical pipeline, ensuring data integrity, reproducibility, and compatibility with downstream machine learning workflows

• Partner deeply with the Platform and ML teams to shape how analytical data is structured, stored, and leveraged computationally, acting as the chemistry‑side technical owner of the data interface

• Determine methods and procedures for new analytical assignments independently, coordinating execution across team members and collaborating functions as needed

• Enforce and hold teammates and colleagues to high standards of scientific rigor and data quality

• Mentor and technically develop junior and mid‑level scientists, establishing best practices, reviewing work for scientific integrity, and elevating the team’s overall analytical capability

• Write, edit, and audit analytical and experimental protocols

• Serve as an internal expert resource and external‑facing collaborator for analytical chemistry questions across Osmo’s scientific and commercial programs

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Analytical Chemistry, Flavor/Fragrance Chemistry, Atmospheric Chemistry, Cosmetic Chemistry, or a related field with 5+ years of post‑degree experience, or equivalent combination of advanced degree and demonstrated technical leadership

• Deep, hands‑on expertise in GC‑MS method development and validation across both targeted quantitation and untargeted profiling

• Familiarity with Mass Hunter Qual/Quant or comparable analysis platforms

• Advanced proficiency in sample preparation techniques for complex matrices, including LLE, SPE, headspace, and SPME, with the ability to design novel approaches for non‑standard substrates

• Demonstrated experience operating with high autonomy in defining analytical scope, setting timelines, and coordinating others to execute without close supervision

• Proven ability to set technical direction for a team or program, including authoring or redesigning SOPs, establishing QC frameworks, or leading analytical platform decisions

• Excellent cross‑functional communication skills, with a track record of translating complex analytical requirements into actionable plans for non‑chemistry stakeholders (e.g., ML engineers, product teams)

Ways to Stand Out

• Direct experience in the flavor and/or fragrance industry, particularly with odor‑active compound analysis or consumer product characterization
• Proficiency in Python or other scripting languages for analytical data processing, pipeline automation, or integration with computational workflows
• Experience designing or contributing to analytical data infrastructure that feeds ML models or large‑scale compound databases
• Familiarity with chemometrics, multivariate data analysis, or other data‑science‑adjacent analytical approaches
• Experience with GC‑Olfactometry and Gerstel robotic systems

S…